The Book of Soden
History of the Soden Family 1146 – 1950
IRELAND : Sligo 1
Introduction : Sligo 1659……….
GRANGE and WARWICKSHIRE
Grange,Co.Sligo is , of course , the main townland with connections to the Sodens. It appears to me that these Sodens had some link , yet to be established , with the major families of Warwickshire , though not of that ilk. They took posts as soldiers/planters/colonists in the Cromwellian forces. Many families from Warwickshire and Oxfordshire have been mentioned in connection with Sligo ,e.g. the Throckmortons ,the Temples ,Fiennes , amongst others. Cromwell had only companies of men , that is , groups of men, often families like the Cootes, (3 brothers and a cousin) , who formed their own companies with the incentive that whatever they gained in plunder they kept either for themselves and gave in payment to their men.
I have found no evidence to support the claim in the UCD folklore archive that Thomas Soden obtained his lands other than by official means. I believe the answer to this to lie in the distribution of lands outlined by Dunlop in his work on ‘Ireland under The Commonwealth’ .
Lord Palmerston , the British Prime Minister , of the 19th century , was of the Temple family and there are many references to the name Temple in the Grange/Moneygold area of Sligo, though some derive from the Gaelic timpeall/church.Palmerston was by all accounts not the most popular landlord. This is evidenced by his treatment of Thomas Soden and other tenants in the 1790s who experienced difficulties with rent demands and his handling of the famine situation on his estate.
PRIVATE SOLDIER
The origins of the Irish Sodens can be traced back to Warwickshire,England in the small town of Bourton-on-Dunsmore and these came to Ireland as part of Cromwell’s forces in 1649 or thereabouts.
CHESTER REFUGEES,1689
Although very little has been written about them , the Chester Refugees were Protestants who fled to Chester in 1689 at the time of the Battle of the Boyne to avoid the Catholic forces at the time and later returned with the advent of William of Orange.
As you can see THOMAS SODEN was 94 years of age and had a wife , CATHERINE and a child .I do not know who this child could be but it may well have been the child of THOMAS SODEN Jnr. recorded in the Hearth Money Rolls of 166(5)5. In the Betham abstracts in the GO,there is mention of THOMAS SODDEN and his brother ROBERT , and his wife , KATHARINE.The fact that the 1689 will mentions John Pugh as the brother of Katharine in Chester and his business as a shopkeeper. The Chester Guild documents have not yet been completely transcribed but may well shed important new light on these two families.
DECREE OF INNOCENTS
The Index to the Decrees of Innocents is interesting as ROBERT SODDIN appears here and so indicating that he and his family were anti-royalist and with the Restoration of Charles II had to prove their loyalty. O’Rorke in his work on Sligo remarks on Soden that he held onto his place at Grange with great tenacity and speaks with great bitterness about the Cromwellian settlers. It is interesting to hear Established Church of Ireland Protestants speaking with such bitterness against these new settlers,although they as colonists had done the same thing prior to the Cromwellians. However , some with time felt entitled to rule the country more that these politically different upstarts.
RELICS
The reference to Soden in Lewis is valuable .However , Lewis like many foreigners touching on Irish history neglects precision for the story. This refers to a plaque still in Drumcliff Protestant church , which we encountered first as children on our regular visits to Mullaghmore.The inscription is for a THOMAS SODEN!!! , who died in 1700 at 105 years, and not JAMES as stated in Lewis. This plaque is still in the foyer of the church,though somewhat frayed. I believe according to James Soden , Toronto that this plaque was erected by Major Eccles , who was married to Isabella Letitia Soden. She was the daughter of James Nicholson Soden , and she was organist in the Ahamplish church for years. She has done an embroidery of the Soden crest , which is now in Toronto , Canada. The existence of a cup/chalice from Stuart/Williamite period is also alluded to by the rector?s wife of Drumcliff in the 1930s but its whereabouts is unknown.
Major and Mrs. Eccles also presented James Arthur Soden , Toronto with the diary of Thomas Soden , Provost, 1787 ? 1818 which he later donated to the Sligo Archives. He possesses a painting done by the son of Isabella Letitia Soden , of Grange Castle.
SLIGO SHERIFFS
From the year 1706 to the 1730’s we see regular mention of the Soden as Sheriffs in Sligo. This job was an important office at this time often bringing unpopularity on the bearer because of the nature of the duties.
Three Sodens , Thomas , Edward and James held this office in 1674 ,1730 and 1736.
CONVERT ROLLS of 1711
In the year 1711 we come across HONORIA SODEN,who conformed to Protestantism from presumably Catholicism, I gather,to keep ownership of her lands. This is the first record of Honora/Honoria/Nora in the family. This means the Soden name is associated with Catholicism at an early stage some member having obviously married a local , she being of the Conyngham family .Certainly the Sodens of Drumrat and Templevanny have been Catholic since at least the 1820’s.
To us, of course, today the notion of religion means very little, but then it was a license to live in peace as the Penal Laws were harsher even than Apartheid for those Catholics convicted under them.
This fact taken from the Convert Rolls to the Established Protestant Church has always interested me .This mixed marriage could entail total loss of property and may well be a reason for the conforming of HONORIA SODEN. With this Honora is linked the name Conyngham. The next occasion we meet the name Conyngham is with Ensign R. Conyngham Soden, 35th Regiment of Foot in 1798 .
BUSINESSMEN, FARMERS, MERCHANTS AND FREE MASONS
Towards the end of the 18th century the Sodens decrease in number in Sligo,I believe,mainly because of the prevailing laws on marriage settlement at the time,where large tracts of land were forfeited away as dowries,intermarriage with Catholics and ,thus,loss of or decrease in size of property meaning movement to other counties such as Leitrim,Longford, Meath, Cavan and Dublin.Due to the loss of Parish Records and Census precise information on developments within the families is hard to extrapolate.
The 2 daughters, Elizabeth and Catherine, of James Soden and Jane Wynne eventually ceded their lands into the names of their respective husbands Kendrick Manley and Cairncross Cullen. The Cullen properties were finally sold under the Encumbered Estate Acts of 1852. Before their father , James , died when they were just 3 and 4 years of age , he tried with great determination to hold possession of these properties for his two infant daughters. Eventually the prevailing right of husbands to control all property interests at this time triumphed.
These early Sodens particularly in Sligo in collaboration with many other families alternated the responsible civic posts till the mid-19th century,and so held such offices as provost of the town and sheriff. There is recorded by Wood-Martin of James Soden being a member of the Sligo Free Masons in the year 1792 , as shown by the Masonic records in Dublin.
Indeed a John Henry Soden founded the Mohill Lodge of the Free Masons in 1865 , being previously associated with the branch in Carrick-on-Shannon.
The more prominent Soden names in the history of this area up to the middleof the 19th century were Thomas Soden(b.1594/d.1700),Edmund Soden (b. 1680/d.1757),Clotworthy Soden (b. 1745/d.1814),Thomas Soden, Provost,( b. 1745/d. 1818) and Capt. James Soden,(b. 1779 /d. 18??). Although there is no corpus of original correspondence extant from the Soden families of this time in the form of letters,bibles, it can be well ascertained from deeds ,wills ,marriage settlements and the Sligo Provost’s notes that the Sodens of this period had extensive contacts and connections with the Establishment families ,of course,Protestant ,in the Sligo area and in the Northwest at this time in general. The names of Vernon,Wynne,Follyot,Gillmore, Hamilton, Hillas,McGowan and many others occur with great frequency.
1798 / The Year of the Insurrection
The Sligo Sodens were staunchly Protestant and British in contrast to the majority of the population in the Sligo area .This is evident by the full-hearted participation of Thomas Soden and his brother , Clotworthy Soden,Rector of Maghera , in opposition to the 1798 Insurrection in the northwest as evidenced by the material in the Rebellion Papers cited for the period . The naming of Thomas Soden in the Private Diary at Wexford Museum is in fact incorrect as the Soden involved was Capt. Mossom Soden from the Somerset Regiment , who had been in Ireland recruiting since 1794 . It is from these Sligo families that we eventually see some members take up residence in the neighbouring counties of Donegal and Derry to the north,and Leitim and Longford to the southeast .The towns of Mohill , Ballinamore , Ballinalee , Edgeworthstown , Athlone were among the Soden residences from the beginning of the 19th century.
Another member of some interest is CLOTWORTHY SODEN , son of JAMES SODEN and ANNE McGOWAN , Trinity scholar and former Archdeacon of Derry. Clotworthy was born in Glasslough, Co.Monaghan. I had hoped he or his family would be recorded in the Leslie estate but alas not. The Leslie family was associated with Winston Churchill , and where Churchill stayed in his youth . Clotworthy is striking by his name , which is of a planter family from Yorkshire , I believe , a name associated with the 6 counties today and he has been rather badly bruised by the unkind remarks of Edward Torrens regarding his character made many years later. Could this Edward Torrens be a descendant of George Torrens recorded as the co-church warden with EDMUND SODEN in 1777 or thereabouts. This EDMUND SODEN is also mentioned in Cotton’s Church of Ireland Fasti. I have often wondered if this partnership led to bad blood between the two men at some stage resulting in this dislike. The direct descendant of Clotworthy Soden is Terry Soden , now resident in Berkshire , England. His father ,George Wensley Clotworthy Soden , was the British officer responsible for the winding – up of the Ashanti connection between Britain and France in 1903.
| EMIGRATION AND THE USA The record of 1846 listing Martin Soden as emigrating to America is the first Irish Soden I believe to go there followed in the 1850s by Patrick Soden of Lavey and Katharine Reilly nee Soden of Knocknanoark,Cavan . Although the record of Martin Soden is in Begley’s Shipping lists the official American records show no such Martin Soden in their records. The American records will show that English and German Sodens and von Sodens travelled far earlier to America, the earliest were Joseph Soden , founder of Guilford , Connecticut ; Thomas Soden of Cambridge,Massachussetts ; a Newgate prisoner John Soden,in 1720 from England; and the families , of course , William and Elijah Soden of Pennsylvania. THE TITHE APPLOTMENT BOOKS & GRIFFITH’S VALUATION These two works are the first really extensive surveys of the name in Ireland for the nineteenth centuries.They show how the name has drifted from Sligo through Leitrim , Longford , mainly to Cavan and thereafter to Dublin. The families would be of both religions and were not very extensive property owners , mainly business people , professionals and farmers. There is even here the first record of the townland ‘Pottlesoden’. Pottle is not only the name of a townland but is also a measure of land like pole,or betagh,…. It seems to me that some Sodens became Catholic and moved to neighbouring townlands like Lattaghlohan , Pottle , Beaghey and may well have been given this townland Pottlesoden south of Cavan town and north of Pottle where PETER & MARY SODEN and GERARD , their son , live and EUGENE SODEN and his family in Knockanoark now live. Descendants of all branches now live in Dublin . PETER SODEN , your greatgrandfather , came from Beaghey and eventually moved to Cavan where he owned the drapery shop now the site of Tesco , Main Street ,Cavan Town. |
The Americas
There are a number of disparate branches in North America coming from Ireland , Britain and Germany.We know that the Canadian and some branches in New Jersey, New York , Oregon and Kansas have their origins in Ireland. They come from Carrick-on-Shannon, Cavan,Leitrim and Sligo.
The Thomas Soden of Cambridge , Massachussetts , may well be of English origin , after whom a street has been named in that town. Indeed another street in Oregon city , Wisconsin is named after William Soden , whose life is recounted in the ?Times to
Remember? by Wayne Salisbury .
The Nebraska Sodens originate in Hook Norton , Oxfordshire , England , heading initially to New York , then to Nebraska where they still are. At least one branch is Afro-American ,and we know , too , the Cincinnati Soden families have immediate German connections .
The participation of William and Edward Elijah Soden in the breaking of the British blockade was one of the most interesting facts uncovered ,showing the early Sodens were with the American ‘rebels’ at the earliest stage. The origin of the two brothers has yet to
be ascertained.
I hope you will take some joy and pride in the history of your name . This is based on historical fact with the deliberate aim of avoiding myth or legend attached to the name which I believe unwisely distort the serious nature of the project . I hope that to whatever branch of the family you may belong you derive as much enjoyment and interest out of your researches as I have done. I look forward to learning even more of the outcome , deeds and achievements of all members of the Soden familyand their relatives .
Notes on the Historical , Etymological and Phonetic Origin of the Name
ORIGIN OF THE IRISH NAME
Edward McLysaght’s Irish Names: pages 139/140
SODEN
This family,of which I have found no trace prior to the transactions under the Acts of Settlement and Explanation,has since multiplied considerably.
Thomas Soden thus obtained the lands of Lislakely in Co.Sligo at that time and immediately afterwards acquired the nearby Grange property from the grantee Thomas Park. Soden of Grange appears as a “titulado”in the 1659 – 60 “census” and James Soden of Grange was one of the Protestant gentlemen attainted under James II. Testamentary records fro Co.Sligo from 1699 show tha persons of the name were extensive property owners in Co.Sligo up to the middle of the 18th century,after which they seem to have become less prosperous though
more numerous. By 1864,when general registration of births came into force,they were still found in Co.Sligo but were mainly located in or near Co.Cavan. In some places e.g. Kells,the name has been curiously equated with Saurin* which is a Huguenot name,
originally Norman de Sauvergne. Reaney and Weekley agree that Soden is derived from Soudan, a corruption of Sultan,and is thus a surname of the nickname class.
REANEY , THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH SURNAMES
‘Soden’ according to Reaney :
page 30
Soden/Soldan(v. Sowden
Soltan – v. Sowden
page 32:
Sowden,Soden,Soltan,Soldan,Sultan.
Alan Soldanc,Soldench 1166,1175 P(Y)
Sowtan,Soldangus,Ric I Cur (K)
Henry Soldan, 12th Feu Du
Roger le Soudan,1208 Cur (Y)
Robert le Sowden, 1279 RH (BK)
OFr Soudan ‘Sultan’ occassionally perhaps a nickname ,but often a pageant-name from the
Soldan of the Saracens.
cl”….he that playeth the sowsayeer is percase a sowter. Yet if one showed …calle him
byhis own name
…. one of his tormentors might hap to breake his (one’s) head.” (Sir Thomas More
(See United Kingdom Part II)
ETYMOLOGY OF THE NAME ‘SODEN’ IN GERMANY
The following is a very brief summary of the etymological & phonetic development of the
name ‘Soden’ according to German sources.
Sode(n),ÖN to middle high German SÖT means marsh or lake.
Middle Low German SODE means peatlawn.
(Brechenmacher: Deutsche Namen Page 615)
Hermann zi Sode,at Freiburg in Breisgau Nr. 142
Hilbrant vamme Soden (also van dem Zode) Hannover
This theme is treated im more depth in the German introduction of Julius von Soden
(See Germany Part III)
| The evidence comes from a number of sources: (1) The pedigree prepared for James Soden,Vermont in the nineteenseventies and the dates rendered therein and corroborated by the Bourton-on-Dunsmore Parish Registers for the late 16th. century. (2) The presence in Ireland at this time of the Temple family,Fiennes,Throckmorton and other Warwickshsire and Oxfordshire names indicate there was a representation from that shire in the country. (3) The mention in Grove of Robert Sodden in 1651 as a private soldier,in Youghal,Co. Cork (4) The allotment of lands in Carbury, Sligo to Cromwellian soldiers in 1652 and subsequent years. (5) The Betham Pedigree in the National Library,Dublin. Although the first occurrence of the Soden name is in Youghal in Cork in 1651,the first residence of the Sodens was in Grange,Co.Sligo , in the beautiful North-West of Ireland. Here in this fine maritime and rural county Thomas Soden is recorded in the 1659 census as ‘titulado’ in the townland of Grange , north of Sligo town on the road to Bundoran. Local legend has it he got the land from an English officer for the sum of £300 pounds sterling , because the man found the area too wild for his liking, as recorded in the De Valera Folklore Collection of UCD but I have found no evidence to support this claim as yet. The likelihood is that Thomas Soden and brother Robert Soden got it for their part in the Cromwellian campaign started in 1649 under the 1652 settlement of payment to soldiers as mentioned by Dunlop . This was later consolidated by the 1660 Act of Settlement and in 1682. In the Hearth Money Rolls of 1665 we find 2 Thomas Sodens , perhaps a father and son in Grange and Kilcat , Sligo (though Thomas Jnr. could well have been the son of Robert , brother of Thomas senior ) and by the 1680’s there was a number of Sodens , particularly in Sligo town , John , Thomas and Robert Soden with Edward/Edm(o)und Soden in Monenean as a Wynne tenant. The names Edward and Edmond are constantly interchanged or similarly abbreviated at this time. THE GROVE ABSTRACTS The discovery of the extant 1821 census for my area in Co. Cavan was an incredible stroke of good luck but this is paled by the contribution of the wonderful Mr. Grove and his abstracts. To find a 50-page exercise copybook filled with every conceivable piece of miscellaneous information taken from so many sources now mostly destroyed in 1922 on our family name was a moment of rare delight. In this work were corroborated many hitherto uncertain details such as that Thomas Soden had a brother , Robert , or the existence of the Longford and Athlone family group with his transcriptions of the 1821 census for that area which is destroyed. Only someone deeply involved in Irish genealogy will really appreciate the importance and value of such a find. Should anyone ever question the validity of such a chronological source as this , let them look to Mr. Grove’s achievement . The Grove discovery convinced me of the inestimable need for a detailed chronological source to our family from which means any branch may draw and tell the unique story of their own development over the last half millenium. PENDER’S CENSUS (1659) THOMAS SODEN is mentioned for the first time officially as ‘titulado’ in Grange . This means he had Grange just after the Cromwellian period and in the year 1688 was granted 168 acres in the townland of Lislahely , at the foot of Ben Bulben with others like Michelburne , Jackson , etc,.. How THOMAS SODEN acquired Grange is not officially known. I put very little store on the local renderings related in Joe McGowan’s book which do not concur with the seisal of land during this Cromwellian time which was thorough and precise and by no means arbitrary. THOMAS SODEN it seems lived with his brother , ROBERT in this area and this is where the first controversy occurs. ROBERT SODEN (1591 – 1643?) Who was ROBERT? He is mentioned in 2 reports and then we hear nothing of him. According to the Pedigree of the Genealogical Office he is the progenitor of all the Sodens. The astounding coincidence for me is the fact that in the work by RONALD SODEN , ‘The Sodens of Coventry’ , there are a THOMAS and ROBERT SODEN , born at the same time in Warwickshire ,as the dates of the Genealogical Office ,living in the area with similar family names as those mentioned , on the demesne of the Temples of Burton Dassett (John Temple being a rabid anti-papist at this time) and all record of these vanishes about the year 1643.There is though a record of the birth to a Robert & Jeane Soden of a daughter,Elizabeth in Templemore , Derry in 1691 , which may prove of some significance later.They joined Parliamentarian forces in Warwickshire and later came to Ireland as planters in the hope like many at the time of bettering their situation abroad. Of course , the most convincing evidence is that of the redoubtable Betham , whose pedigree for the Sligo Sodens whose the two brothers Thomas and Robert and their issue. Betham had all the requisite facts before him for his judgement . I believe that on the death of ROBERT , THOMAS made a claim to the Court of Claims for his lands. The Bourton-on-Dunsmore parish records show a death of ROBERT SODEN in 1643 , though the ‘Irish’ ROBERT is alive later. The fact that THOMAS SODEN lived to such an advanced age , at least 105 years , if not 109 years as recorded on the headstone in Drumcliff is very useful in researching this branch. Moneygold with Grange became the main residence of the Sodens in Sligo for two centuries with frequent recordings of lands held from various big landlords in Carbury barony. This webpage is copyrighted. © 2023 Felix Soden. All rights reserved. |